


Pitfall

by schfiftytwo



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Jemma Simmons, Betrayal, Deception, F/F, F/M, Gen, Wartime
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-16
Updated: 2015-02-16
Packaged: 2018-03-13 05:58:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3370412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schfiftytwo/pseuds/schfiftytwo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jemma Simmons is one of SHIELD's newest (and finest) field agents. With new faces at Operations, she accepts a seemingly straightforward mission from the top brass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

_Ninety-seven._

It had been almost two years since SHIELD had undergone its reorganization. The old team had been split apart across the globe, aiding in the setup of new bases, recruitment of new agents, and repairing what was left from the whole Hydra fiasco. Jemma had had her own reservations about her friends leaving for the far-flung reaches of the world, but ultimately it was the Director’s call.

_Ninety-eight._

She remembered the days immediately following Coulson’s term as the de facto head of SHIELD. One of his priorities was to strengthen their ranks by training new agents or bolstering existing ones. Jemma volunteered herself for Coulson’s initiative without a moment’s hesitation; she owed him at least that much for all he had done for her.

_Ninety-nine._

“Come **ON** ….!”, she shouted.

_One hundred._

Jemma lowered herself from her last pushup, the sweat dripping from her brow. Sitting up, she took a swig of water from her bottle.

Looking around, she admired the silence of the empty training room. It reminded her of her days as a SHIELD scientist, working tirelessly on experiments and research. It was comforting to be encapsulated in her work back then, to sit back and admire her lab bench covered in notes and scientific instruments.

Now, as a fully-trained Field Agent, her time in the lab had become almost nonexistent. With SHIELD’s ranks still in limbo, Jemma found herself out and about more often than not. Investigating 0-8-4 cases and recruiting new agents was her new gig. Her time with her beloved beakers, centrifuges, and isolates had come to a grinding halt, traded in for time with throwing knives, radios, and assault rifles.

She missed the ease of working as a pure scientist. After all, that had been what drew her to SHIELD in the first place, not running and gunning around the world like a spy from a movie.

But now, here she was, a scientist turned soldier. Who would have guessed. She had been around the world, acting as a face - _and sometimes the sword_ \- of the organization, and to her credit she was one of the best around. Maybe not on the same level as _Melinda May_ , but Jemma could hold her own just fine.

Jemma stood up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She had been training for what seemed like hours. Keeping in top physical condition was a must for every Field Agent, and she made sure to put her time in. She knew the consequences of going out into the field unprepared.

Above her, the base intercom let out static growl before a crackly voice came over the speaker.

“Agent Jemma Simmons, you’re needed in Operations. Repeat, Jemma Simmons to Operations.”

Jemma sighed. “Off to work again.”

Fixing her loose ponytail, she wondered what mission she was being thrown into this time.

Walking into the Operations Control Room, Jemma was greeted by a fresh new face amid the otherwise blank expanse of computer operators and administrative staff.

“Good morning, Agent Simmons!”

He was a spry-looking young man dressed in a fresh set of slacks and a patterned shirt with a square-ended grey tie. On his ear was a headset linked to the command console and the Director’s personal feed. His hair was styled like something out of a fashion magazine.

She put her hand out to shake his.

“Good to meet you. And your name is…?”

“Oh, my name is Dale. Agent Dale Stuckey. It’s my first day here in Ops Control; it’s just a great honor to meet you Agent Simmons. I’m literally starstruck! I read your file; HUGE fan of your work. Without you it’s safe to say none of us would be here, and -“

“I appreciate the sentiment, Agent...Stuckey...but, I’d like to get down to business. I was instructed to report here.” Jemma said curtly. 

Stuckey’s enthusiasm bordered on overzealous. It unnerved her knowing that this was the new Operations controller.

He seemed a bit hurt at Jemma’s cutoff, but he bounced back without missing a beat.

“Yes, yes of course. So what we have here is a recovery mission, pretty standard in my opinion. You’re going to be flown into a remote region of the Caucasus with a small strike team. We have some reports that some separatists got their hands on some Stark weapons, and knowing how unstable the region is SHIELD would like to make sure these little toys don’t get played with. I’d recommend going in light with no excessive kit; I’ve been looking at the current armory inventory and I think that….” 

Jemma’s mind began to trail off as Stuckey went into another muse. _Where did they find this kid?_

“…So yeah. You’re due in the main hangar in 20 minutes for dust-off.” he finished, an excited grin on his face. Stuckey handed Jemma the mission documents.

“Knock ‘em dead!”

He gave her a thumbs-up. Returning his odd energy with a smile, Jemma turned around and headed out. Perusing through the details of the mission, she made mental notes about the terrain she would be in, the make of the weapons, and the expected resistance.

She had been on plenty of missions like this; every time a simple in-and-out affair. Most times she didn’t even have to fire a single shot at anyone.

 _Just another day._ she thought to herself.

_”Target is 2 mikes out. Drones reporting small patrols in and around the target compound. All hands prep for drop, repeat, prep for drop.”_

The sound of the plane engines emitted a soft hum as the jump light in the troop bay began to glow red.

Jemma made sure her kit was all set. Parachute, flight helmet, close-quarters weapons, rifle. Behind her, the strike team under her command did the same. She patted herself down again, and then again.

_Check, check, check. Everything in order._

The loading ramp of the plane began to drop as the darkened atmosphere began to reveal itself. Jemma could see the terrain below them speeding by.

She raised her hand, signaling her squad to prepare for the jump.

As she dropped her hand, the jump light began to flash red.

_”Be advised, drop zone is hot, drones reporting hostiles and multiple points of anti-air resistance. Repeat: Drop zone is hot, repeat -“_

Before Jemma could process what was going on, the sky outside the plane began to glow with explosions of flak. Rockets and tracer rounds were flying all around them. The plane violently shook as it bounced all around.

All of a sudden, Jemma felt blasts of cold air around her as the left side of the plane ripped open. She saw her squad mates flail into the sky around them before also being sucked outside. 

She felt stings all over her body as she collided with micro fragments of metal from the explosion. Her breathing became sharp, her lungs collapsed by the lowered air pressure around her.

As she fell, her radio filled with noise as she heard Operations Command demanding a status report.

From the growing static in her ear, she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

**_“Agent Simmons…report….What’s your status….repeat….Agent SIMMONS!….Say something!…..Jemma…!!”_ **

_Skye…?_ she thought, as she free-fell into the darkness.


	2. Cover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her mission now in jeopardy, Jemma attempts to stay alive deep in enemy territory.

_“…Simmons…..! Agent Simmons……get up…!”_

_**BOOM**_

_**POP**_

_**FSHHH**_

_“…Soldier, GET ON YOUR FEET, we have to -“_

_**RATATATATATAT**_

_“Shit….! AGENT SIMMONS…!”_

She awoke with a start, gasping for breath. A hand immediately cupped over her face, silencing her.

Jemma reflexively reached for her combat knife and felt her bare jumpsuit instead. She heard the voice of her lieutenant whisper in her ear.

“Agent Simmons. Keep quiet, or you’ll get us both killed.”

She held her breath and darted her eyes around. The two of them were lying prone in a field of tall grass. Around them were hostiles, yelling orders at each other. Her Russian was rusty, but all she needed was one phrase that resounded across the open air.

_We give no quarter to SHIELD. Kill anyone you find on sight._

She could feel her heart begin to beat uncontrollably, lying in the field for what seemed like ages. Adjusting herself, a lone soldier turned in her direction.

Steeling herself, Jemma stared right at the soldier. With any luck, he hadn’t seen her yet. She clenched her fists and began to crawl toward him, ready to strike him down silently as he passed by.

“Whoa there, Simmons. Let him pass. If he goes missing the rest of them will come looking.”

He was right. They couldn’t do anything that would draw attention. Jemma sat still in the grass, watching the young soldier walk past them and into the woods behind them.

“He’s gone…Good to see you alive, Simmons. I thought for a minute I was gonna have to drag you back to the Triskelion myself.”

She sat up in the grass and took a good look at her colleague. He was covered in dirt, blood dripping slowly from cuts all over him. His jumpsuit and tactical helmet were in tatters.

“It’s good to see you too, Lieutenant. What happened…? All I remember is falling from the plane and hearing explosions.”

“Mmm. We got shot clean out of the sky, from the looks of things. The plane disintegrated; we’re lucky we didn’t end up vaporized in the explosion. The others…they didn’t make it. I found two junior officers who died from the fall, and our field tech was killed trying to recover you from the field you ended up in. Bastards tore him to shreds.”

He paused to look up at the sky, lit with streaks of orange by wandering tracer rounds.

“We’re the only ones left.”

Jemma swallowed hard. Their situation was bleak.

“What equipment made the fall?”

Her Lieutenant sighed. “All I have is my knife and sidearm. I couldn’t find any weapons on our dead, and the radio on the field tech was destroyed by the enemy when they took him down. When we found you, all your kit was blown to bits as well. Not a single thing I could salvage.”

He unholstered his sidearm and handed it to Jemma.

“Six shots. You’re the Field Agent in charge; means you get the gun.” 

Jemma nodded at him. “We need to find a communications station or a radio. SHIELD needs to know what happened.”

Her Lieutenant gave her a stern nod in return, and motioned toward the woods.

“Their rally point is somewhere in the woods, near where our original LZ was supposed to be. If we can find it, I can rig their radio to send a message to Operations.”

Jemma chambered a round into the pistol.

 _Definitely not just another day._ she thought to herself.

_“Repeat, drop zone is confirmed hot. Valkyrie, do you copy? Valkyrie?”_

_..._

_“Director, I’ve lost radar and sat contact with the plane; I’m trying to re-establish radio contact now.”_

_..._

_“Ma’am, these are the reports you requested on the area with all pertinent intelligence.”_

_..._

_“Director, I have word from the Russian field office; I have a second team on standby waiting on your orders for rescue/exfil."_

_..._

_Beat._

Skye could not believe what had happened. She had been through the reports, read the intelligence, created the action plan for Jemma’s team. During her time as a field agent, she learned to expect the worst, that the higher-ups always knew best. Now, standing at the helm of Operations Command, she felt more helpless than ever. She knew how dangerous the area Jemma went down in was, and -

_Jemma._

Skye’s heart began to beat slower, a slow ache coming across her chest. She had sent her in there, her former teammate and her closest friend.

Hell, who was she kidding. Jemma was Skye’s lover. What started as an innocent tryst between them blossomed into a full relationship with all the fixings. Even after Jemma had answered the call to join Operations and began jet-setting as one of SHIELD’s top field agents, their lives were ever intertwined. Late night dinners and weekends alone coupled with field drills and mountains of paperwork.

Not exactly the picture-perfect romance, but Skye knew her feelings were true, and so were Jemma’s.

Going into this mission, all she could think about was how she would surprise Jemma with the news of her new promotion to Operations Director. Jemma would have come back from her mission, and Skye would turn around and accept her report with a salute and a long-overdue hug. Maybe even a kiss.

But with this mission going south, the only thought in her mind was how that moment might never come to pass.

Pushing her feelings aside, Skye looked up from the reports. This was not the time to lose her mind. Right now, she was Jemma’s only chance at making it out of there alive.

“Call the Russian field office and give them the green light. I’m authorizing all means necessary to retrieve Agent Simmons’ team. Get me eyes in the sky on the crash site; I want drones scouring the area for our people.”

The Operations room began to bustle with her orders. 

Now, it seemed, was their only shot at this.

Jemma grumbled to herself as her hand caught another thorny branch.

“Lieutenant. How close are we to the LZ?”

“We’re getting close. I can see smoke from that clearing ahead.”

He pointed forward. Jemma could see the faint traces of smoke rising from the trees. She heard several voices too, sounds of laughter and merriment. As the pair approached the clearing, Jemma took cover behind a towering oak tree. Silently giving her lieutenant the order to circle around the clearing, she ducked between trees until she was within sight of the Russian campsite.

Peering from around the tree trunk, she observed the soldiers at ease. She saw two tents set up with antennae outside them; most likely their radio station. Next to it, a small rack of rifles was propped into the dirt, with ammunition and field supplies. Two soldiers were chatting nearby, with another pair seated around the blazing campfire at the center of the camp. Three soldiers were walking its perimeter; these ones armed to the teeth.

Behind a collection of bushes, she spied her lieutenant, also scanning the camp.

She signaled to take down the guards first and work inward. The shadows would be their greatest ally here.

Without another word, she began to slowly move toward the guard nearest to her. He had stopped to look up at the trees.

Jemma steeled her nerves and slowed her heart to a crawl as she began to focus intently on her target. She watched his breath turn to vapor in the cold night air, his arms slung on his rifle with one finger on the trigger.

She had to work fast.

Springing to action in a flash, Jemma leapt from her cover and muscled the guard down. She held his head in a vice grip, keeping his arms and legs pinned down as she clamped her arm around his neck. His struggling for breath was stifled by her surprise attack, and before long the soldier ceased moving, his arms slowly losing strength before falling lifeless to the ground.

She released him from her hold and dragged his body toward a nearby bush, taking his rifle and combat knife with her. Moving to the next guard, she twirled the knife in her hand and threw it forward, striking the back of the second guard’s head silently. He fell without even a gasp of air.

Jemma hurried to his body and took the knife from his head before hiding his body as well. Taking cover, she looked out toward the camp and saw her lieutenant armed with a rifle as well, waiting on her mark.

Their infiltration was going smoothly. None of the other soldiers had noticed the silent commotion.

Moving forward, Jemma gave him the signal to strike, marking the campfire soldiers as hers. Her lieutenant signaled back, marking the chatters by the radio tent. 

She began to advance, with her handgun and knife drawn. She came toward the center campfire and quickly slit one soldier’s throat mid-sentence before stabbing the second in the temple. She turned around and witnessed her lieutenant do the same.

As the dead soldier’s bodies hit the floor, Jemma holstered her weapons and took a deep breath. It wasn’t every day she had to pull out all the stops in the field like that.

“Nice moves there, Agent Simmons. Looks like your reputation wasn’t so blown up after all. I bet you’d even give Romanoff a run for her money.”

Jemma caught herself mid-chuckle. “Not at all, Lieutenant. I would think any field agent could carry out a simple threat neutralization, given the right training and resources.”

“Hah. Whatever you say, boss. Let me get on this radio and notify HQ that we’re still kicking.”

“Alright. I’ll keep watch out here.”

Jemma turned around and took a seat at the campfire. Keeping her ears alert, she listened for any sounds of approaching enemies. All she could hear was the soft crackling of the fire. The sound seemed to tickle her cold body, now something she could feel as the adrenaline of her situation wore off. She liked the feeling of the fire’s warmth on her. The last time she felt this way, she had been bundled up in bed with Skye.

_Skye._

She cursed herself for very nearly forgetting. Jemma had been involved with Skye for a long time, and their relationship was something that meant a great deal to her. Scientists didn’t have many opportunities to embrace their emotions outside the lab, and Skye was Jemma’s ideal outlet. Smart, beautiful, loyal, funny, and forever caring. Jemma could not have imagined a better partner.

But with the course of things after Hydra revealed itself, Jemma and Skye steadily began to spend less and less time with each other. With Jemma now doing double-duty in Operations and Skye handling the tech restructuring of SHIELD, the times they used to enjoy became quite sparse indeed.

Jemma felt bad, obviously. Nothing should have to come between two people who fit so well. But circumstance played a heavy hand, and Jemma knew it.

She sighed, her breath vaporizing. Right then and there, all Jemma wanted was to have Skye there next to her, to see her smiling face and experience the scent of her hair washing over her.

“Agent Simmons. I’ve got the relay up; the distress signal is being sent now.”

Jemma pushed back her musings about Skye almost immediately.

“Great. What’s the time on that before we can clear out of here?”

“Oh, I’d say that the message will complete in about….what, 10 min-“

Her Lieutenant’s eyes grew wide. A trickle of blood came from the corner of his mouth, before becoming a torrent of red. He fell to his knees and began to seize before going completely still, slumping to the ground. The fire behind Jemma illuminated a grotesque wound on his neck. The pattern of damage was consistent with a bullet fired from above.

_Sniper._

Jemma ran for the treeline as fast as she could. She could hear what sounded like pinpricks on the ground behind her, before a severe pain shot through her shoulder. She fell forward as the bullet tore through her, embedding itself in bone. Another shot of pain tore through her waist, this time just a graze as the bullet smacked into the ground.

She yelped in pain as she fell and collided with the ground, her labored breaths shooting dust clouds into the air. She had to keep moving, find cover before the sniper could finish her off.

Using all her strength, she dragged her body with her good arm toward the treeline again, hoping to hit the shadows. She could feel the warmth of her blood on her skin as it soaked through her field uniform. With every grasping motion toward the trees she could feel her vision begin to tunnel out, her hearing beginning to transform into a single ring. Her breathing turned to moans as she moved.

All of a sudden, she felt a sharp pain in her side as she was forcibly turned over by a kick. Another pain shot through her as a soldier kicked her a second time. The sound of Russian commands began to break through the ringing in her ears.

As her world went dark, all Jemma could think of was how she would never have the chance to apologize to Skye.

_...P-Please…forgive…me…my love._

**Author's Note:**

> So this story was inspired a while back and is a bit of an editing collaboration with my friend friend. We play Call of Duty pretty frequently when we have downtime, and we had a bit of a thing once where we thought it'd be cool to do a few AoS role-reversals based on the ridiculous action we partook in with CoD.
> 
> Hopefully its up your alley! I personally really like this story, and am excited to be working on it along with my other action-y fics.
> 
> Enjoy, as always. :)
> 
> //points if you know where "Dale Stuckey" comes from


End file.
